


as long as we're together

by quietly9



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Panic Attacks, Post-Tartarus (Percy Jackson), Post-The Heroes of Olympus, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Service Dogs, forgive me for writing them going to new rome for uni i am a fool, i was a child ive learned. ive grown. forgive me.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietly9/pseuds/quietly9
Summary: as long as they were together, they would be okay.everybody was affected by the war. percy and annabeth were no exception.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 13
Kudos: 198





	as long as we're together

Everyone had different ways of coping with the trauma from the war. For Percy and Annabeth, it was staying together. At first, it earned some teasing, which stopped after Percy had a flashback while training and after Annabeth woke the entire Athena cabin up after a nightmare. From there, nobody bothered them too much about it. 

It also helped that Clarisse began threatening anybody who dared to pick fun at the couple, even when Percy and Annabeth weren’t around. 

Percy and Annabeth began staying in the Poseidon cabin together. While it wasn’t technically allowed, it helped both of them calm down from nightmares easier. The Athena kids slept better, too.

Either Chiron didn’t realize what was happening or didn’t bring it up. Either way, Percy was grateful. He figured that Chiron would leave it alone as long as they weren’t too obvious about it. 

Percy didn’t really flaunt his title as a Hero of Olympus, but after everything he and Annabeth had done for the gods, they deserved to have a bit more freedom. During the time they spent at Camp before going back to see Sally, not a word was said about it, and Percy hoped it would stay that way for all of their visits.

As long as they were together, they would be okay, even if it meant bending the rules sometimes.

Percy and Annabeth stayed at Camp for a week, trying to help the camp recover from the war, before they went home to see Sally. Though Percy knew that he needed to see his mom soon, he was tempted to put it off longer. The guilt from being gone for so long was bound to get worse once he saw her again, even if it wasn’t his choice to leave. No, it was the stupid gods not being able to just let their kids _live._

Percy had been fairly certain he would break Annabeth’s hand from how hard he gripped it when they were standing outside the door to Sally’s apartment. He wanted to see his mom again, of course. She had always been there for him, and he would always love her. It was hard coming home after eight months of no contact aside from a single voicemail.

The excitement of seeing her again wasn’t enough to drown out the guilt. Percy knew it wasn’t his fault that he was gone for so long, but he still felt terrible. At least she had Paul now; she wasn’t totally alone. That made him feel a little better about it, but not by much.

Though Percy hadn’t expected Paul to open the door, he wasn’t disappointed. If anything, it helped him prepare himself for seeing his mom again. Percy was surprised to be swept up into a hug almost immediately and Paul had called for Sally. She came running out of the kitchen. There was a moment where she froze, looking at Percy and Annabeth with wide eyes, before running forward and hugging onto Percy, nearly pushing Paul aside to do so.

The reunion went better than he thought it would. Annabeth would teasingly chide him later for expecting anything else, but she understood. Given that Annabeth planned on visiting her family soon, she absolutely understood his nervousness about seeing Sally again.

Percy already liked Paul, but the fact that he was a teacher made him even better. Getting enrolled in classes after missing an entire semester with no explanation was sure to cause plenty of questions, but between the Mist and Paul helping to make sure he could graduate on time, it was settled fairly easily.

Annabeth was also enrolled in AHS with Percy, which had confirmed that she would still be living with the Jacksons. It was already clear that she would be, given that Sally had given permission before Percy and Annabeth even asked, but this felt more concrete, like they really were in it together.

Percy loved that feeling. 

Getting enrolled in his classes had been easy, but the school itself was a lot harder. On top of the normal course load, Percy was taking two online classes each semester in order to get caught up with classes and graduate on time. Given that Percy had a full ride to New Rome University, Percy wanted to finish high school as quickly as possible.

Percy had toyed with the idea of joining the AHS swim team, but it was only after both Sally and Annabeth’s encouragement that he tried out. Being on the swim team was rough at first, mostly because of his scars. Whenever Percy was asked about it, he brushed it off by saying he used to have a shitty step-dad, and it was dropped quickly from there. Even though no one pointed it out and his teammates were used to it, there were still days where he dreaded taking his shirt off.

Being on the swim team was fun. Percy was in his element, and it was one thing that he was actually good at and enjoyed. After the initial awkwardness of being shirtless, it became his favorite school-related activity. Sure, he was crazy busy between classes and swimming, but it was a good way to relieve stress before going home. 

Having Annabeth around kept him motivated to keep up with his classes; the motivation came from wanting to go to New Rome University with her and the fact that she would not put up with his excuses to not do schoolwork. It helped that she knew how to study with ADHD and dyslexia, too. Percy was impressed by Annabeth’s fierce motivation to get through high school. Having her around to help him study made it easier to get through the worst of his classes. 

After the week of helping Camp Half-Blood recover from the war, Percy and Annabeth spent almost all of their time at home (at this point, it was clear that Percy’s home was Annabeth’s too). They both kept their distance during the school year as well. 

It was partly because of how busy they were with schoolwork, as well as needing to distance themselves from being demigods—from being _heroes_ _._ Sally was never afraid to remind them that they deserved the break. They had done enough for the gods, especially after venturing through Tartarus, a place where even the gods didn’t dare to go. 

Even though they missed their friends and siblings at Camp, it was good to be able to attempt being a normal mortal. Sure, they still had to deal with monster attacks, but just attending school was a nice change of pace. Schoolwork sucked, but it was _normal._

Once school began, Annabeth started to go see her family over most breaks, though she did spend Christmas with the Jackson-Blofis family. Whenever Annabeth was gone, Percy did everything possible to distract himself from her absence. It became a habit to spend at least one day at Camp Half-Blood, assuming he didn’t have anything to study for. He would bake, bring the food to Camp, and then teach sword-fighting lessons for the rest of the day. 

Being away from Annabeth was stressful. Percy knew that she was safe, especially given that she was able to fly to see her family since he wasn’t with her. Traveling alone was safer than traveling with a child of the Big Three, and Annabeth was working on becoming closer to her family. Going to see her family after the war was important to try to mend their relationship, as was spending breaks with them.

None of this logic made it any easier to be away from Annabeth. She was his rock, his anchor—somebody who could keep him grounded and help calm him down whenever everything got to be too much. It wasn’t healthy, Percy being so dependent on Annabeth, but it was the only option they had.

By January, Percy and Annabeth were slowly getting better. Not by any means perfect, but things were getting better for them. It had been six months since the war, and it seemed like everything had settled down. Their lives were becoming more normal. The panic attacks and nightmares came slightly less often, which was a clear sign of improvement. They were still there, but it was no longer quite as terrible

Then Apollo stopped by. Gods, how Percy wished that he hadn’t driven that asshole to Camp. There was no way that he could turn down Meg though; as much as he hated Apollo, he couldn’t leave a demigod without helping her to Camp, especially given how young Meg was. So Percy put up with Apollo and wrecked Paul’s car in the process.

That set him back a bit. After getting everything settled and getting back home, his first stop was the bathroom. A long shower helped, as did staying up late baking. It kept him distracted until he was tired to try and sleep, though he only slept for a few hours before being woken up by a nightmare. 

The fact that Annabeth was in Boston for a family emergency didn’t help, and he panicked even more when he realized she wasn’t there. Sally had to remind him that Annabeth was out of town in order for Percy to calm down.

He wound up missing a few days of school due to how sick he was after the incident with the _nosoi_ _,_ but that was a good thing. Well, being sick sucked, but he could actually get a doctor’s note to miss school while he took some time to recover from being thrust back into being a demigod.

It took Percy a while to get back into the swing of things after that. The fear of getting dragged into another prophecy was making his nightmares and panic attacks worse, and the bags under his eyes and dropping grades reflected that. 

Estelle’s birth is what managed to pull Percy out of the fog he’d been living in. 

Meeting Estelle had Percy crying. Honestly, he was surprised by how much he cried. She was so young and defenseless, but she had a badass mom, a good dad, and a protective brother. She wasn’t a demigod. Percy was terrified because of how defenseless she was, but he was also relieved that she would have a simpler life, filled with normal, mortal concerns. 

Luckily, there were no more visits from gods or demigods for the rest of the school year. Percy put more effort into his schoolwork and finished high school with better grades than expected. Looking at the grades he got didn’t matter, because he graduated. He actually graduated. Percy was damn proud of himself for it, even if he did have plenty of help from Paul and Annabeth. 

Percy wasn’t sure if he had ever seen his mom look as proud as she did at his graduation, even if she did have to leave briefly because Estelle was crying. For once, he really felt proud of himself. It was so easy to pick apart his mistakes, but Percy had worked hard to graduate on time. 

The excitement of graduating died down a week later, whenever he and Annabeth had a talk. 

Percy and Annabeth had become too dependent on each other since the war. Everyone was aware of it, including Percy. A summer apart would be good for them, no matter how much he hated the idea. Annabeth was the one who brought it up, and he knew that she was right. Percy just hated that she had to mention it at all. They would be living together in New Rome, so Percy wanted to pretend that it wasn’t important for him to learn how to function without Annabeth by his side.

On top of the fact that they needed time apart, Annabeth also wanted to spend a summer with her family now that they were on better terms. Though Percy’s family was her first real home since she was seven, it was still important to Annabeth to be able to maintain good relationships with her family.

As long as they were together, they would be okay, but that wasn’t always an option. 

It was obvious to Sally that Percy struggled to cope on his own; Annabeth had been the person that grounded him the most. Annabeth understood what he had been through, so it made sense that she was able to calm him from nightmares or panic attacks more efficiently than Sally was. Though Sally knew the basics of what the two had been through in the Second Giant War, neither Percy or Annabeth was willing to talk to people about what had happened, especially not in detail

After a few weeks of Percy struggling with no improvement, Sally had reached out to Chiron for help finding a demigod therapist. It took a while of digging, but eventually, they were able to find one and make an appointment. At first, Percy had no interest in seeing a therapist. He went to the appointments for his mom, really. 

It was initially to just ease Sally’s mind, but within a few appointments, Percy was much more willing to go. They didn’t dive right into the dark things as Percy had expected. Instead, Percy was allowed to take it at his own pace, even if he tended to dance around the more serious events. 

The therapist was the one who recommended Percy getting a service dog, and she helped them find a few organizations that could help pay for it. Given that Percy had been diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, and severe PTSD, it wasn’t too surprising that there was an organization that would help cover the funding for training a dog.

Whenever Percy called Annabeth to let her know about the dog, he briefly thought that she was going to cry from relief. It was obvious to both of them that they had gone downhill since parting. Annabeth had also found a therapist not too far from San Fransisco, but it seemed as though Percy needed the additional help of a service dog on top of his therapy.

Percy was finally introduced to his service dog towards the end of June. Lacy was a Bernese mountain dog, and Percy fell in love with her immediately. Over the next few weeks, he visited the center where she was being trained almost daily; he helped train her and learned the commands while he was there. On top of that, Percy really wanted to spend more time with her. Lacy was way too cute for him to resist going to see her as often as possible. 

Percy swore to both his mother and therapist that he would find a new therapist in New Rome. They were both concerned about Percy’s mental health given that he was moving in less than a week, and honestly, Percy was concerned too. He honestly did mean to find a new therapist quickly, but he never got around to doing it. On top of being busy with classes, he wasn’t a fan of how close he and his current therapist were to discussing Tartarus. 

Talking about the Second Titan War was horrible, as was talking about the Second Giant War, but Tartarus… Percy couldn’t make himself talk about that yet. That was another reason that he avoided finding a new therapist, even if he wasn’t proud of it. It made him feel like a coward, but hey, Percy never claimed that he wasn’t one.

Moving out was bittersweet. On one hand, Percy was looking forward to seeing his friends in New Rome and actually going to college. He’d never expected to do anything past high school, especially given how poor his family was when he was younger, so it was a good, albeit unexpected, opportunity. 

Leaving his mom was harder. Even if he had been gone months at a time whenever he was at Camp Half-Blood or on quests, this felt different. It was more final in a way, even though Percy knew that he could go back and visit whenever he wanted.

Adjusting to college was hard; of course it was hard, everybody knew that it was hard. Percy was prepared for that. What he wasn’t quite prepared for was the amount of time he would have to spend working outside of classes, which was a struggle with ADHD. He did like the freedom; he wasn’t stuck in classes for seven hours a day. Instead, it was just a few hours a day, and he had at least an hour gap between each of his classes. 

There were pros and cons to college, but Percy loved living with Annabeth. They had already been living together for almost a year, sure, but after spending the summer apart, he was grateful to be back with her. It was also different living under his mom’s roof than it was being on their own. The apartment they lived at was small and simple, but Percy wouldn’t have it any other way.

Another change was adjusting to a new job. Percy got a job in a cafe near campus while Annabeth worked in the university library. Working at the cafe was fun. His coworkers were nice, his boss was understanding about Percy needing Lacy (though she had to stay in the break room), and interacting with the customers was enjoyable most of the time. 

Even though some of the coffees they made were confusing and tricky to master, Percy loved his job. Annabeth did too, given that she could read or do homework without interruptions whenever the library was slow. They got settled fairly easily, even if adjusting to a new environment was hard for them both.

As the semester went on, Percy was more and more stressed. His classes were getting harder and requiring more time spent outside of the lectures, and it was hard for him to stay focused long enough to not be doing things last minute.

Sword training became a way for him to get rid of built-up stress and anxiety; in New York, swimming was his go-to, and while that was still an option in New Rome, it was mostly training that he turned to. It resulted in him teaching younger campers on occasion, which Percy actually enjoyed. What he didn’t enjoy was that these skills might be necessary for them later on.

Percy never wanted to be a half-blood. He never wanted to fight, never wanted to go on a quest, never wanted to play a major role in two wars. It took a toll on him, especially knowing that he would have to continue to fight for the rest of his life. Even inside New Rome, Percy felt the need to train often enough that he didn’t get rusty. Nobody knew what would happen in the future, and being unprepared wasn’t a risk that Percy wanted to take.

That made it harder to train, especially when it came to training kids. Eventually, his sword arm started hurting. It got worse whenever his anxiety was bad, and sometimes it got to the point where he couldn’t hold a pen. After a week of this, Annabeth pushed him into going to see a doctor.

The results weren’t what he expected. Nothing was physically wrong with him. It was all mental. By the time he’d seen three doctors, he was handed a diagnosis of somatic pain disorder. He was stressed and anxious enough that his mind was creating pain in response. The pain was all in his head, and while the doctor had explained to Percy that he wasn’t faking the pain, it was hard to believe that. 

It seemed like a cop-out to get out of quests or defending his friends, but that wasn’t right. Percy would die fighting if it meant protecting his friends or even strangers. He had been told that it was likely due to the trauma of being forced to fight for six years now, and he would have to try to work through that, likely with a therapist.

Well, Percy wasn’t seeing a therapist and didn’t plan to find a new one. Despite the promises he made to his mom and his previous therapist, he didn’t intend on finding a new one. Talking about his step-dad, the wars, and how much he hated being a half-blood all over again didn’t appeal, and neither did talking about Tartarus.

Percy ended up explaining to Annabeth that he had been overworking his arm and needed to stop training as often. It was only half a lie, but Annabeth was busy enough without Percy telling her that he was faking being in pain. He didn’t want to see anybody’s reaction to that. He knew that all of his friends would be supportive, even if they thought that he was faking the pain, but Percy didn’t want to admit how weak he had become. 

Finals season seemed to be the bane of every college student, and Percy was no exception. As much as Percy loved the differences between high school and college, he was quickly finding out that he despised finals. They were three weeks away, but he was determined to not study at the last minute. As long as he graduated, grades weren’t too important, yet Percy wanted to pass his classes with good grades for once.

Studying didn’t come naturally to Percy. Even with all the tricks he’d been taught, it was still hard to sit down and actually do it. Whenever it got to be too much, he would leave New Rome for a while to go train; however, that got him into a bad cycle that he was struggling to break. He would train because he was stressed, which resulted in him being in too much pain to study at times, which would stress him out further. 

Work had become an escape; Percy couldn’t do schoolwork and couldn’t train while he was at work. His job was usually fairly calm. There were times where it was busy, but even then, Percy didn’t mind it too much. It was an easy job, and it helped to take his mind off of everything. With everything that had been going on, between his arm and college, Percy loved having to go to work.

It wasn’t often that anybody actually got hurt at work, but Percy always had great luck. The Fates truly did make sure that he had an easy life at all times. In this case, that meant that Percy was lucky enough to bump into a coworker while holding a cup of hot coffee. It spilled all over his hands and wrists, but the burns on his hands wouldn’t be the end of the world. Water would heal it and his hands would be a bit sore for the next few days. 

What was the end of the world was that it immediately sent him into a panic. Percy managed to hold it together until he got to the break room, swearing under his breath all the while. He ran his hand under the water for as long as he could manage before all but collapsing on the ground, curling up and doing his best to keep from bawling. 

The River Phlegethon. Being forced to drink the fire to survive. How badly it hurt, both when being held in his hands and when going down. Every time, it felt like he was going to die, like it was going to burn him up from the inside out. It was like he was there again, like he was in Tartarus all alone this time. 

It was only a few moments from the time that he curled up until something big and soft was pushing against him, rubbing against his face and hands. After a brief jolt of anxiety, he realized it was Lacy. 

Lacy, who had been trained to give him a ton of affection whenever he was panicking. It was grounding, feeling something so very real. It didn’t calm Percy down immediately, gods no, but by the time a coworker was able to come in to check up on him, Percy wasn’t crying or hyperventilating anymore. 

There had been times where Percy had panicked badly enough that Annabeth or Jason would have to meet him to bring him home. It was after a few instances of this that Percy began bringing Lacy with him nearly everywhere, and he was grateful for her presence whenever he panicked like that. 

Ruining his calm, lazy Sunday with Annabeth by having a flashback at work the next day wasn’t the ideal way to start a week, but Percy didn’t anticipate the flashback meaning that the entire week would be terrible.

With finals coming up, Percy knew that he was going to be stressed anyway, and starting his week that miserably was a bad sign. Usually, Percy was pretty expressive, even whenever he was upset, but right now he was worried about distracting Annabeth from her own studying. This meant that he was bottling everything up, not breathing a word of how bad the week was becoming aside from vague statements about how finals were kicking his ass.

Percy’s main coping mechanisms were baking and training. Typically, he would train, shower, and bake an obscene amount of cookies or cakes. With finals coming up, Percy was doing his best to stick to baking. Since he was already stressed, it was likely that training would mess up his arm, which would make studying harder. 

Baking didn’t always do the trick though; he needed to get excess energy out whenever he was stressed. Percy wasn’t surprised whenever he found himself in the arena Wednesday night, training with a few younger campers. As he expected, it definitely hurt his arm, but he was doing his best to play it off as if he was simply going easy on them. 

It was then that Percy realized it was shaping up to be a terrible week. The smartest thing would be to confide in Annabeth, given that she always managed to make him feel better, but Percy would feel too guilty if he did that.

As long as they were together, they would be okay, but it could be hard to open up sometimes.

It wasn’t as though Percy woke up on Saturday and knew it was going to be a bad day. He had a nightmare the night before, sure, but usually, that didn’t mean all too much. After startling awake, he had gone through his usual routine of checking Annabeth’s pulse, making sure all the doors were locked, and hiding in the bathroom until he managed to calm down. That night, he decided to take a shower, and Annabeth luckily hadn’t woken up while he had been gone. 

That wasn’t Percy intentionally trying to hide how much he was struggling; it was due to how bad he felt whenever he unintentionally woke Annabeth up after a nightmare. Sometimes, whenever they were worse than usual, he would need her awake. The reassurance that they were alive, that they were together, that they had really gotten out of Tartarus. 

Percy not opening up about the poor week meant that Annabeth didn’t have a reason to suspect anything was wrong with Percy. He probably seemed a little more reserved than usual, but overall, he was doing a surprisingly good job of hiding how stressful the week had been. It wasn’t on purpose, not really, and Percy had wanted to avoid interrupting Annabeth whenever she was working so hard on studying and on plans for Olympus and the camps. 

While Sundays were Annabeth and Percy’s day to relax, Saturdays tended to be their days to get shit done. Neither of them worked on the weekends, so typically they used Saturdays to catch up on homework and to get everything important done so they could relax on Sunday.

The Saturday of Percy’s “Incredibly Shitty Week,” as he had so lovingly labeled it, those plans were interrupted. Whenever Annabeth explained that she, Hazel, and Piper were going out of New Rome to have a day out, Percy wasn’t too concerned. They both left New Rome every so often, and Annabeth deserved to spend a day out with friends. 

It was better if he didn’t go anyways, given that having a child of the Big Three with them would be more dangerous, so he didn’t bother to even suggest it. Plus, every couple needed time apart, even if it was only for a few hours. Maybe it made Percy anxious, being away from Annabeth whenever she wasn’t in New Rome, but it was fine. It was totally fine.

Lacy went with Annabeth. If Annabeth knew how badly Percy had been struggling through the week, she wouldn’t have asked to take Lacy; however, Percy assured her that he would be fine without the dog. Most days, he wasn’t dependent on having Lacy with him while inside the apartment, but not having Lacy with him turned out to be a mistake. 

Annabeth was as busy as Percy was, so she had every right to take a day to herself, and having Lacy would allow Annabeth some peace of mind. Percy would do anything for Annabeth, and letting her take Lacy outside of New Rome was an easy thing to do.

Things were typically calmer in the apartment; that was his excuse for not telling Annabeth that he needed Lacy. Really, Percy didn’t think that he would need her, given that he planned on staying in the apartment all day.

Percy’s day had started normally enough. Aside from the nightmare, things were calm. He made breakfast, laid his homework out, and got to work. That was a large part of why he thought that everything would be fine. He hadn’t been too on-edge from the moment that he woke up. Despite the nightmare, nothing had signaled immediately that his anxiety would be terrible.

It only after he had started an English essay when Percy realized how anxious he was getting. Every ten minutes, he was getting up to make sure that the doors were locked, and after two hours of this, he stopped to grab a knife from the kitchen. That was it fully hit him that an anxiety attack was building.

The slight paranoia whenever he was alone was common; some days checking the lock wasn’t needed at all, but other days, he would check every few hours. Checking the locks every ten minutes and needing to keep a knife nearby was a really, really bad sign.

New Rome didn’t allow weapons, which meant that Percy couldn’t have Riptide. His solution to this was to have a few kitchen knives with celestial bronze on the edge of the blade. Not the best weapon, but enough to provide a sense of security. Percy realistically knew that if he ever needed a weapon, it was likely that he would have a chance to go get Riptide, but being unprepared wasn’t an option, not whenever he had already lived through two wars.

In Percy’s opinion, it made sense for him to be this worried about being safe. It wasn’t healthy, gods no, but having a knife made him feel slightly better about being home alone. Percy wasn’t sure if Annabeth had picked up on the behavior, but if she had noticed anything, she never brought it up. Percy didn’t try to hide it, especially on the nights that he had to leave one of the knives tucked under the edge of the bed.

Even though the knife was meant to bring a sense of safety, trying to study like this wasn’t working out too well. The way that the letters seemed to twist around on the page was frustrating Percy, and his firm grip on the handle of the knife didn’t allow him to actually write.

The smart thing to do would be to try to contact one of his friends. Preferably Annabeth or Jason, but honestly, any of his friends coming over to the apartment would be an improvement on how freaked out he was right now. It was a Saturday, though. Everyone should be relaxing after a crazy week, and having to babysit Percy would put a huge damper on that. Percy didn’t want to bother anybody, even if he had been reassured repeatedly that it wasn’t an issue.

Given that Annabeth lived with Percy and knew firsthand how paranoid and anxious he could get at times, she understood it entirely. Given that Jason had to meet Percy at the grocery store to take him home whenever he had a panic attack and locked himself in the restroom, he understood it pretty damn well. They were both there for him, but Percy couldn’t call them. He couldn’t make himself do it, not whenever they were both likely having a fun weekend.

So, Percy was doing his best to just roll with the panic that was growing. It rapidly led to him retreating back into the bedroom, locking the door. Percy paced around the bedroom for far too long, knife still gripped tightly in hand. Though it wasn’t entirely uncommon for him to get this worked up, especially whenever Annabeth wasn’t in New Rome, it hadn’t been this bad in a while. There was usually a reason for him to be this paranoid and anxious, but today it was out of nowhere. 

Annabeth would be home soon. It was nearly 5PM, so she would be home soon, and then everything would be fine. That knowledge wasn’t enough to entirely calm him down, but it did stop his pacing, in a way. Percy had shifted the suitcases under their bed to one side of the bed, almost like a barrier. He crawled under the bed then, facing the door, knife held tightly to his chest. 

This made him feel slightly safer; there was very little risk of something attacking him from behind, and he could still watch the door to make sure that nothing got in. It would be fine, Percy just had to hold out until Annabeth got back. Everything would be fine.

Despite whispering this to himself repeatedly, the anxiety and paranoia were quickly evolving into a full-on panic attack. Percy didn’t know how much time passed before he heard the front door open. Annabeth called out his name twice, the second time sounding significantly more confused and worried. Percy could hear Lacy whining outside of the bedroom door, which was likely what tipped Annabeth off to the fact that something was wrong.

He heard Annabeth try the door and swear in Greek before going to find the key. The key to their bedroom door was always hidden in a book, just in case something like this happened or they accidentally locked themselves out (not that Percy had done that repeatedly). Sometimes they needed to be alone, but it could be detrimental at other times. It was necessary to have an easy way into the bedroom in case anything got out of hand.

As soon as Annabeth unlocked and opened the door, Lacy bounded in and darted under the bed, curling up as close to Percy as possible. She was once again trying to ground him, and an additional benefit was that Percy was forced to set the knife down so that he didn’t accidentally hurt her. 

Annabeth laid down on the floor next to the bed, whispering assurances that they were okay and they were safe. There were no questions at this point, not asking why Percy was so worked up. Annabeth was giving him time to calm down before seeing if he would talk about it. 

Eventually, he carefully pushed Lacy aside, moving out from under the bed and clinging to Annabeth. She was sure to be uncomfortable, lying on the floor like this, but if she was, she didn’t voice any complaints. They just held each other. Percy was holding Annabeth a bit too tight, and Annabeth was slowly stroking up and down Percy’s back. 

The steady stream of assurances never stopped, even whenever Percy started sobbing into Annabeth’s shirt. Promises that they were together, that she wouldn’t leave his side, that everything would be okay. They both knew it wouldn’t be okay immediately, but they would get better. 

The previous guilt about burdening Annabeth was mostly gone now that she was here. It was a silly thing to be worried about; they were always there for each other, and there was no reason for this to be any different. All it had done was made things worse. Annabeth understood what he was dealing with all too well, so there was no way that she would judge him for breaking down like this.

Slowly, Percy came down from the panic attack, but he didn’t let go of Annabeth. Right now, he needed the contact, needed to be firmly reminded of the fact that she was here and that they were both safe. 

It was like a floodgate had opened. Percy explained that he didn’t know what set him off today, but the week had been terrible. He told Annabeth about the flashback on Monday, how freaked out he was over exams, how he kept training even though it hurt so badly, and how paranoid he was today. He explained that the doctors thought he was making up his pain, that it was some mental thing, but he swore that he wasn’t. Percy would never lie about being injured, which was why he just kept working through it. 

Annabeth was whenever unsurprisingly reassuring whenever Percy told her that he kept training because of how anxious he was but how training made everything worse, even if it got rid of excess energy. It got to the point where he couldn’t hold his pen to study, which just frustrated him, and he didn’t want to bother anybody by just asking for help. She didn’t seem to think he was making up the pain, which validated the diagnosis slightly, at least in Percy’s eyes.

Percy swore that he didn’t mean to get this worked up. It wasn’t his intention, which was without a doubt already obvious, but he needed Annabeth to understand that he was sorry for bottling everything up and not calling her before he got this freaked out. Even though Annabeth didn’t mind, she promised she didn’t mind, Percy couldn’t help the stream of apologies.

Once Percy seemed to calm down slightly, Annabeth helped move him to the bed. They laid there quietly for a bit before Annabeth started to quietly ask questions about what had happened. She handled problems logically, which Percy appreciated; they went over everything that had triggered the bad week. Percy reluctantly agreed to find a therapist once it became clear that the triggers were far out of his control. It wasn’t anything he would be able to work through alone.

Based on Annabeth promising she would find a therapist too, it seemed as though she sensed his reluctance to start therapy again. That made Percy feel a bit better about it because there was no denying that Annabeth could use the help as well.

Percy and Annabeth were both struggling. They were fighting to be okay. They supported each other and tried to cope with it all, but the bad days still came. It wasn’t likely that things would be perfect anytime soon; the trauma wouldn’t just disappear. They both needed to keep working towards improving their mental health and working through the trauma, and they were going to do their best to actually be okay.

As long as they were together, they would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic, so be gentle. i haven't written anything except academic papers since 2014.  
> i'm open to advice and constructive criticism. please let me know what y'all think! and comments fuel my soul (aka would encourage me to try and write smth else)  
> pjo tumblr: @childofhades


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